Florida Basketball: 8 candidates to replace Mike White as head coach

Sean Miller

If Florida isn’t interested in hiring another hot name off the mid-major market, then there’s still a number of intriguing options out there. We could talk about any number of current or former power conference head coaches that the Gators could check in on, but we don’t have time to list every single one of those. Instead, let’s dive deeper into a former coach who might be ready to dive back into coaching in college basketball.

Miller was a point guard at Pittsburgh who settled nicely into the coaching world, serving on the staffs of coaches like Herb Sendek and Thad Matta before getting his first head coaching job at Xavier. After Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen runs with the Musketeers, he was hired by Arizona and spent 12 seasons out west with the Wildcats, leading them to three Elite Eights and two Sweet Sixteens before his tenure came to a rocky and unsatisfying end last offseason.

While things ended poorly at Arizona, especially with recruiting suspicions and an FBI investigation, Miller is a fantastic coach who has brought a high level of talent everywhere he’s gone. He’s the kind of splash hire that could instantly raise the level of recruiting at Florida. While he couldn’t lead a crew of talented teams to the Final Four, he has extensive postseason experience and might be the best head coach available this offseason that doesn’t have a current job.